Zebras, the aftermath
by SageK
Summary: I'm in total denial that O'Halloran died!
1. Chapter 1

**Harsh breaths echoed in the silence of the Forensics' lab as Detective's Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson stood over the prone bodies of two lab technicians. Dale Stuckey, who, before that day, they had dismissed as simply a somewhat incompetent and annoying lab tech, had turned out to be a nasty little sociopath. He first killed in an attempt to absolve himself of a mistake that had resulted in a killer walking free, then he killed or planned to kill multiple people whom he felt had belittled him.**

**His final victim, Ryan O'Halloran lay on the floor beside Stuckey. His big, blue eyes stared blankly up at the ceiling and his normally healthy complexion was chalky white. The front of his shirt was soaked with blood and Elliot could swear the stain was worse than when he had first seen the man, lying there with a knife protruding from his chest.**

**Elliot could hear Olivia calling for a bus and other officers, then felt her hands pressing her jacket to the multiple slash wounds adorning his chest. But his attention was on O'Halloran…bloody shirt…pale, clammy skin…tiny bubble of bloody spit appearing at the corner of his mouth….**

"**Shit!" Elliot bellowed, stepping none too gently over Stuckey, who grunted in pain. As Elliot dropped to his knees beside Ryan, Olivia pinned Dale to the floor and roughly cuffed his hands behind his back. **

"**How far out's that bus?" Elliot asked as he put Olivia's jacket on Ryan's chest, wadding it up over the wound.**

**Olivia didn't answer, as she was on her cell with Dr. Melinda Warner, the ME, hoping she could get to the lab sooner than the EMT's. That barely registered, however, as the moment Elliot applied pressure to O'Halloran's chest, he got a response.**

**Ryan jerked as though jabbed with a live wire, gasping for breath and bringing up greater amounts of frothy blood bubbles. His eyes were unfocused and glazed, roving wildly as he was wracked with violent tremors. His hands flew up, but didn't seem to have any target and his now squirming legs failed to find purchase on the smooth floor.**

"**Ryan!" Olivia joined Elliot by the young man's side, grabbing one of his flailing hands in her own. "Calm down, Ryan. Help's on the way. You'll be fine."**

**The tech groaned and gritted his teeth, tension in his body causing the tendons in his neck to bulge. After managing a few shallow pants, he gasped, "Dale…blood…"**

"**We got him, man," Elliot assured him, tossing a glance to where Dale was still lying in a stupor. "Woulda save ourselves a lot of trouble if we had hidden his body, huh."**

**In response, O'Halloran managed another wet gasp as the door banged open to admit Dr. Warner. On her heels were a pair of paramedics laden with equipment and a stretcher, several uniformed officers and, finally, Captain Don Cragen, Detectives John Munch and Odafin Tutuola and Dr. George Huang.**

**With an efficient flurry of activity, Dr. Warner and the paramedics displaced Elliot and Olivia from Ryan's sides. As the pair made their way toward Cragen, Olivia tossed a glare at Stuckey. To a pair of uniforms she ordered, "Lock him up."**

**Startled, they complied, hauling the still dazed man from the room.**

"**What the hell happened down here?" Cragen asked his detectives, looking from Stuckey in handcuffs, to Elliot's slashed chest, to the desperate rush to stabilize O'Halloran on the floor.**

"**The vic at Coney Island, Zimmer, Judge Donnelly…It was all Stuckey," Olivia said, accepting the handkerchiefs Huang, Munch and Cragen had produced and again attempted to address her partners injuries. "O'Halloran found a mosquito with the perps DNA in Zimmer's car…Stuckey stabbed Ryan and was about to kill Elliot when I got here."**

**With all the atrocities they saw in their work, some things could still horrify police officers. The idea of one of their own (though Stuckey hadn't really achieved that status yet) committing these recent crimes was a shock.**

**From the floor, the listened to various medical phrases, most of them unfamiliar with the terms, but aware they weren't great news.**

"…**hypovolemic shock…"**

"…**cardio/pulmonary penetrating injury…"**

"…**tachycardia…decreased systolic pressure…"**

"**Hemorrhaging! Get another rapid infusion line in now!"**

"**Pneumothorax…putting in a tube…"**

"…**if he goes into cardiogenic shock…."**

"…**Systolic BP at 90mmHg!"**

"**Pericardiocentesis. Now."**

**It seemed like both an eternity and only moments later when they bundled O'Halloran onto a stretcher, chest swathed in bandages, tube down his throat, a big needle sticking out of his chest like the tap on a keg and a series of IV's snaking out of his arms. Warner was actually straddling his waist, one of her hands buried under the gauze, the other squeezing the pump to assist his injured lung.**

**The paramedics pushed the stretcher out, shouting into their shoulder mounted walkies as they went. Just before they got to the door, the female paramedic glanced over her shoulder at Elliot. "One of you better get him to the ER. He's looking a bit shocky too."**

**With that, they were gone, leaving the others to stare at the floor, where blood and medical detritus littered the area. After a moment of silence, one of the remaining uniforms, a young man with sandy hair and freckles, asked, "How…I mean…Can we cordon off the crime lab as a crime scene?"**

**Cragen groaned and said, "Everyone out. Seal the doors till we figure that out."**

"**Call another unit…another precinct, even," Munch said, then, at the captain's curious look, he shrugged. "Our squad room got shot up in Baltimore. Letting those of us who were too close to it work the case was…not the best idea."**

**With a nod to Munch's experience, Cragen asked, "Anyone know who O'Halloran's next of kin is?"**

**TBC**

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	2. Chapter 2

Olivia was loathe to find that the name she found in O'Halloran's personel had no identifiers beside it. Just _In case of Emergency, contact Molly O'Halloran 555-7213._ She had no idea if she was calling Ryan's mother, sister, some random cousin or aunt. She was fairly sure he wasn't married, as the file had him as single, but it could have been a mistake.

As it turned out, Molly was his sister, who listened to what Olivia said, asked what hospital he was taken to and promptly hung up. She couldn't really blame her.

By the time Eliot and Olivia reached the emergency room, the doctors had already hustled Ryan off to surgery. Warner was filling out a series of forms to the best of her ability, looking harried and unhappy, O'Halloran's blood rapidly drying on her clothes and skin.

A passing nurse took one look at Elliot's slice'n'dice chest and heaved a sigh. "This way," she said, beckoning him to follow her to one of the treatment rooms. Without looking, she shoved a clipboard and forms at Olivia.

It was almost two hours later when they made it up to the surgical waiting room, Elliot now wearing the spare scrub shirt an intern had scrounged up for him. Warner and Cragen were both seated in the uncomfortable chairs that seemed to come standard issues in hospitals, as were Huang and a young woman.

If Olivia had been told to pick O'Halloran's sister out of a crowd, she would have had absolutely no problem doing so. Molly, small but strong looking, had the same thick, chestnut brown hair, blue eyes and fair skin as her brother. The chin was softer, more feminine and the nose small and similar. Instead of the lab coat Ryan wore, she was clad in a white chef's jacket and black cargo pants.

There were fresh smears of baby pinks and blues down the front of her jacket and tear tracks on her cheeks. Huang was speaking to her in low reassuring tones and she kept glancing over at Warner, whom Olivia now noted was clad in a full set of scrubs, her bloody clothes nowhere to be seen.

Cragen and Warner approached them as they entered, both faces grave. "He's going to be in surgery for at least four more hours," Warner said, then lowered her voice, "The damage was severe. If he survives, there could be permanent impairment."

Eliot looked like he wanted to punch a wall and Olivia closed her eyes in frustration. Ryan was a forensics guy, a tech. He wasn't supposed to come face to face with the skels they put away. He wasn't supposed to get hurt.

"How the hell did this happen?" Cragen asked, knowing it had been their case and barely able to believe that Stuckey had been the killer. The kid was an ass, but didn't seem to have the resolve to be a murderer.

Before either of them could try to make sense of things, a nurse in surgical scrubs appeared in the doorway. "O'Halloran?" she questioned, in a gentle, calming voice.

"Yes." Molly O'Halloran's reply beat out everyone else's, as she rose from her chair and quickly crossed the room to the nurse. As she padded silently passed them, Olivia took note of a few more details. Instead of clogs or croc's, which a lot of chefs had taken to wearing, she wore a pair of pink Puma sporty ballerina flats with Criss-cross straps and a Durable rubber outsole. There was a matching ribbon securing the end of her long braid between her shoulder blades.

"How's my brother," she asked the nurse, looking up at her with big, tear filled eyes.

The nurse placed a comforting hand on her arm. "The doctor's are doing all they can and he's a fighter, so that's good," she assured the younger woman. "We've had to give him a sign cant amount of blood, and his blood type…."

"AB Negative," Molly blurted. "Same as me. I'll donate."

The nurse nodded. "That's good. The blood bank is a few floors down. I just wanted to let you knew he's holding his own."

From his spot, Cragen said, "The blood bank's probably got a line."

The nurse shook her head sadly. "Not enough people donate, sir."

"We're the NYPD," Cragen insisted. "One of ours ins down, we show up in droves." Then he rolled up his sleeve to display the band aid at the crook of his elbow. "Plenty were there when I left, so if you need a particular blood type, get her in, or ask the officers with that type to move to the front of the line."

The nurse nodded and exited the way she had come.

Molly watched her go, then turned to face Cragen. "I'm gonna go down there," she said quietly. "Please, let me know if something happens."

Cragen nodded and Eliot said, "I'll come with you. Been a while since I gave blood."

"No," Olivia said, pushing him toward the chairs. "You've lost enough blood today. I'll go."

Leaving Elliot to be bullied into the seats by Cragen, Warner and Huang, Olivia led the way to the elevators. At least she'd get out of making a report to the captain for the moment.

TBC

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	3. Chapter 3

Officers had already begun flooding the hospital's blood bank by the time Olivia led Molly down to give blood. While people with AB negative blood are able to accept donor types of A-, B-, O- and AB-, the closer the match the better. Thus, Molly was hustled to the front of the line.

Still, by the time she and Olivia made it back to the surgical waiting room, all hell had broken loose. Specifically, Kathy had arrived, none too happy to have been informed by an officer that Elliot was at the hospital

"The news said someone was critically injured, Eliot! And of course, you couldn't deign to give me a call or answer your phone! Do you have any idea how worried I was…."

From the sound of things, and the looks of intense discomfort on the faces of Cragen, Warner and Huang, she'd been going on like this for a while. Elliot couldn't seem to get a word in and was looking more and more frustrated.

"…What would I tell the kids?" Kathy continued, "Eli's too young to worry, of course, but the others are all upset and I got the call that you'd been hurt and rushed over and here you are…a few little cuts! You had us all completely distraught because some other officer couldn't get out of the way of a bullet or whatever and you couldn't…."

"Shut the hell up." Olivia was quite impressed by the way Molly's quiet, but very obviously angry, snarl carried across the room and how effectively it made Kathy shut her mouth.

Stalking across the room, Molly jabbed a finger at Kathy. "What is your trauma? My brother's in there fighting for his life. Just be glad your husband isn't. If you're gonna keep on bitching, get the fuck out!"

Kathy blinked down at the smaller woman, who was practically vibrating with fury but still not the most intimidating figure ever. Olivia thought her attempt to be terrifying might have been hindered by the panda T-shirt that had been revealed when Molly had shucked her long sleeved tunic to donate blood.

It seemed as though the room was collectively holding their breaths until Kathy almost visibly deflated. "I know. I'm sorry about your brother, but you must understand then, what it's like to worry about someone you love being out on the streets, doing what they do," she tried to offer a justification for her behavior along with the apology.

"No," Molly said. "Ryan's in forensics. He always told me he didn't deal with the bad guys, that his job was safe…Then Olivia called me today and…."

The younger O'Halloran sniffed and turned, walking away from Kathy, who at least had the grace to look contrite. She looked first to Olivia, who was in her line of sight, but Olivia's nerves were shot, she was worried about Ryan and kind of pissed that Kathy had dismissed some serious knife wounds as a few cuts. Shaking her head, the SVU detective made her way over to where Huang had joined Molly on a bench.

"Kathy," Elliot said quietly, but with a clear tone of displeasure, "I'm sorry you and the kids were worried, but it's been a hell of a day. Go home. I'll call the kids, but I have to stay here."

Though she restrained herself from any of her previous hysterics, Kathy was not happy. "Why? You're okay. You can come home…."

"My friend is in surgery," he interrupted. "I'll call you later."

Over Kathy's protests, Elliot ushered his wife out of the surgical waiting room.

Quiet once again descended over the room as they all found themselves doing little things to soothe themselves and, in some cases, each other. Huang placed a hand on Molly's back and offered the occasional supportive murmur. Warner got up and made her way over to the charge desk and grilled any staff member dumb enough to pass within visual range. Cragen got up, disappeared for a moment, then came back with bottles of water for them all. Molly simply popped contacts out of her tear reddened eyes and fished a pair of glasses out of her large, messenger style purse.

Olivia though, wasn't comforted by her own internal musings. Instead, she was reviewing all of their interactions with Stuckey, wondering if there was anything they could have done to prevent this from happening. Logically, she knew that since Stuckey had it in him to do what he had done than it was probably only a matter of time, but still, they were trained detectives. You'd think they'd notice when one of their techs went all kill-spree on them.

"Is there anyone else I can call for you?" Olivia finally offered Molly, who startled and looked over at her.

After a brief pause, she shook her head. "No. I got a friend to pick up Sean…and Danny's overseas. Our older brother. Marine Corps."

"Sean is….?" Huang probed gently, knowing that between the stress and blood loss from her donation (she was small enough to feel it), she was probably more than a little shocky. Keeping her talking was healthy.

"Danny's son. He's 9. His mom's gone, so when Danny's deployed, he stays with me. Ryan spends a lot of time with him. We're all each other has, really." She spoke in a soft, slow tone, eyes drifting to the side before she gave herself a little shake, then fished a Blackberry out of her bag. "We went to see the Yankee's last weekend. Sean loves them. So does Ryan."

Scrolling through some photos of what looked like beautiful wedding cakes, Molly stopped and smiled at the little phone. Then she handed it to Olivia who looked down at the display and swallowed back the lump in her throat.

The image showed Ryan and a small boy, obviously Sean, and, like Molly, obviously an O'Halloran, sitting in the bleachers at the new stadium. Both wore broad, sunny grins and pinstripe shirts to support their team. Each had a ball cap on, turned backwards and a half eaten hot dog was visible in the boys hand. It was clear they were content and carefree…hard to believe such a short time later, Ryan would be fighting to live.

And Olivia didn't doubt he'd continue to fight.

TBC……


End file.
